Last Christmas the example of a friend motivated me to get organized for the arrival of our family. Read part one here.
The 8 days our house was full of people went fabulously. I
had time to sit and hold the baby, visit with my daughter-in-law, play the
complicated board games my family prefers (one game took well over 2 hours), go
on outings for “light-seeing” and coffee, and
bring 10 people home for dinner!
My sister-in-law had to sleep on a bed we pumped up every
night in the family room which is right off the kitchen in our house. We draped
curtains over the opening and she said she was staying in the “Taj Mahal”.
We had my parents-in-law over several times as well as a
couple of movie viewing nights with friends. I guess we should now call our
family room “The Taj Theater” as that is where we “show” our movies.
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| Two hour-plus Carcassone game! |
We included a stop to visit my 90 year old friend, Marion,
on Christmas Eve and sing carols with her for an hour at the retirement home
where she lives. We left there and went straight to the Christmas Eve service
and were home and eating supper by 6:30!
Below is the menu I made up. In italics are the comments I wrote down during the week and after to
remember for this year.
Wednesday, December 21
Dinner – Left
over Autumn Pork Stew, salad (lettuce, orange slices, sweet pepper, poppy seed
dressing)
Thursday, December 22
Dinner – Asian
Salmon, baked potato, salad (Jim and I)
Frozen pizza for youth group boys game night
Friday, December 23 (Daniel, Abby, and Anna arrive)
Lunch – Pumpkin
Soup (freezer); Orange slice salad with poppy seeds and oil and vinegar on
lettuce leaf; bread rolls; Christmas cookies
Dinner – at Stiles
and dessert at Debi’s
Saturday, December 24
Breakfast –
cheese strada, fruit,
Lunch – cheese,
summer sausage, and crackers, orange and apple slices
Dinner – taco
soup (crock pot), coleslaw, cookies
Sunday, Christmas
Breakfast –
scrambled eggs, Christmas ring, sausage
Christmas Dinner
– Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, Waldorf salad, (brown and serve
rolls) – (family brought rest of the meal) 12 lb turkey is too small. Pay more for a bigger one! Didn’t have rolls, no complaints on that.
Evening – snacks
– Ate at 3:30, so didn’t really need
snacks.
Monday, December 26
Breakfast –
Cereal, bananas, milk, coffee – everyone
likes homemade granola, lots of yogurts were good addition
Lunch – potato
cheese soup w/leftover mashed potatoes – good
use of leftovers! ("Smashed Potato Soup", Family Circle Slow Cooker Meals, p. 143)
Dinner – Turkey
& Dressing casserole, salad – good
use of leftovers! Added boxed sweet potato casserole and fed 8
Tuesday, December 27
Breakfast –
oatmeal, fruit, nuts
Lunch –
quesadillas, with peppers, chicken, black olives, and mushrooms – 4 star idea!!! Served “buffet” style; 2 large frying pans on medium-low
to heat; chips and salsa
Dinner –
Spaghetti and Spicy Meatballs (freezer), salad – everyone
loves the spicy meatballs! Need at least 4 per person, 5 would be better.
Wednesday, December 28
Breakfast – cereal
– Thankgiving French Toast – the
make-the-night-before breakfast dishes are great, I get to do my exercises
before breakfast!
Lunch –
sandwiches, fresh veggies, pretzels – lunch
meat and tuna
Dinner – Chicken
Enchiladas (freezer), salad – 0 stars. Family prefers beef and bean enchiladas
Thursday, December 29
Breakfast –
oatmeal, fruit, nuts, milk
Lunch – Garlic
Chicken Vegetable Soup – Daniel and
Abby went to Grandma and Grandpa’s for lunch, we ate leftovers.
Dinner (celebrate
Samuel’s birthday)
Tender Chuck Roast, Mashed potatoes, green beans w/almonds,
carrot salad, angel food cake, - this
chuck recipe is very good, but roast needs to warm to room temp. before placing
in oven, or it doesn’t get done!
Friday, December 30 (Samuel leaves)
Breakfast – cereal,
bananas, coffee, yogurt – used second
Swedish (Christmas”) ring
Lunch – Chili,
cornbread, salad
Dinner – honey
curried chicken, rice, stir fried broccoli with peppers – did rice in oven with chicken—worked great; cover chicken with foil to
keep moist.
(Daniel, Abby and Anna leave)
Saturday, December 31
Breakfast – pancakes
– cereal, yogurt, and fruit
Lunch – sloppy
joes, (freezer) raw veggies – left over taco soup
Dinner – stuffed
shells, salad – Grandma and Grandpa
took us out to Bishops for last time, it closes Sunday.
Sunday, January 1
Breakfast – Paneton
(Peruvian Christmas Bread), eggs, oranges
Lunch – Pork
roast, boxed scalloped or sweet potatoes, green beans w/peppers
(Lois leaves)
Dinner – frozen
pizza popcorn and apple slices
Leftovers
Taco Soup – 3 servings
Smashed Potato Soup – 3 servings
Pumpkin Soup – 4 servings
Still have on hand
Garlic Chicken Vegetable Soup – 8-10 servings
Frozen pizzas – 4
Stuffed shells – 4 servings
Sloppy Joes – 5-6 servings
My goal with all this menu information was to give you some inspiration and ideas. I hope it did, and I'm wishing you a wonderful and organized holiday season!
My goal with all this menu information was to give you some inspiration and ideas. I hope it did, and I'm wishing you a wonderful and organized holiday season!
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If you want a question to get the conversation going around your table like the Around the Table Book Facebook page and a question will appear on your wall everyday.
Linking with these blogs.
This is so nice and brings back memories to me.Christmas season is one of the times I miss my family a lot. I have a very big family and we always dine together on Christmas day. But since I'm far away from home, I still do it with friends who are like family to me.
ReplyDeleteNekky, I'm so glad you get together with friends when you can't be with family. My parents always lived at least 1000 miles from extended family and for 24 years we lived on another continent so we looked for as many as we could to fill our table at Christmas every year. It's a great way to serve others and add to our own joy! Right now I have all my kids close, but that will change soon as they are marrying and moving on, so I'm grateful for every time we can get together.
DeleteLooks like you did a great job of enjoying the holidays. Your meal planning was wise and it looks like your family had a great time. It's always a challenge to enjoy instead of stress.
ReplyDeleteGail, I'm feeling like this Christmas is coming up very quickly and wondering if I can be as organized, or at least organized enough to enjoy it all! Hope so!
DeleteEverything sounds and looks so delicious! I'm really glad I don't have to feed that many people! But I am inspired by your organizational skills! Pretty darned amazing. I hope this year goes as well!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too. I'll have quite a few more house guests and another baby for a longer time! I'm so glad they all pitch in!
DeleteI still think this is such a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up to Raising Imperfection!
Make sure to check back on Friday to see if you were featured.
Leslie
www.violetimperfection.com
Thanks for having the linkup!
DeleteThese pics are wonderful!! And the menus look great. the Taj Mahal idea is cute. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late, but visiting from the Raising Imperfection hop.
Glad you came by. I'm hoping to get this year organized, but I've had a lot of other things going on, so I'm not there yet!
DeleteEnjoyed seeing your pictures and reading your menus. I'm a planner. When we go to my mother's for any occasion she has every meal written out, which dishes, tablecloth and napkins, down to how many high chairs is needed. It sure makes for a smooth celebration.
ReplyDeletePamela, Your mom wins the prize! I look in the cupboard to see which dishes are clean and which tablecloths are clean. I start the week with all of them clean, but on we go! It does help to have things planned, though!
DeleteWow...check out that menu! That's impressive.
ReplyDeleteLove the Taj Mahal idea :)
Thank you for linking your post to Raising Imperfection.
Please come back Friday to see if you were featured. :)
Lanaya
www.raising-reagan.com
Thanks, Lanaya. I haven't gotten this year's ready yet. Hope to work on that in the next couple of days! New grandchild, wedding, plus two daughters and my parents here... :-)
Delete